luke was strumming his guitar, quietly singing the lyrics to in your starlight, an unfinished sunset curve song he'd been working on before he died. recently he'd started playing it again, partly inspired by elara and the feelings that he'd started to feel that he'd never felt towards anyone before.

reggie and alex had disappeared, probably out causing mischief somewhere whilst elara was sitting on the couch doodling in a notebook listening to luke sing. she felt butterflies listening to him sing.

hours seemed to pass slowly during the day when they were waiting for julie to come home so that they could practice for the talent show,  each day they tried to find something new to do that they couldn't when they were alive. but today was a lazy day, and when luke decided to put down his guitar he sat on the floor besides the couch elara was sitting on.

he rested his head on the pillows behind him, playfully poking the girl who had her head buried in her book. she'd stopped doodling and was writing lyrics to her own song that she'd been working on - one she was planning to one day sing for luke. but it wasn't quite done yet.

he tried to peer over at what she was writing but she turned the notebook away from him, "hey! i wanna see." he pouted.

"not yet." elara said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"you're cute when you blush." luke said, his gaze lingering on her, in awe of her.

"oh, stop." elara giggled, putting the notebook away behind a pillow.

despite the fact he wanted to read whatever she was writing he respected her privacy, as did the other boys. at first it was hard adjusting to having a girl ghost around but eventually she just became one of them.

"elara..." luke began to say something, he turned to face her as she was laying down on the couch facing him. he reached up to tuck a stray piece of her shiny brown hair behind her ear.

someone behind them cleared their throat, luke jerked around to see reggie and alex standing there awkwardly.

"uh, hey you guys!" alex said, unsure whether to laugh or poof away again.

"h-hey." luke and elara said at the same time, elara was sitting up now, scooting away slightly.

"so..." reggie rocked back and forth on his heels, "band rehearsal?"

"band rehearsal." they all agreed, nodding.

the boys knew luke and elara had grown close but they hadn't made anything official yet.

"if we wanna win this talent show at julie's school we have to be better than ever. isn't there some new group julie was telling us about?" luke asked, recalling that julie had mentioned two guys had formed a new group in her music class and they had crazy skills.

"yeah! but c'mon we're literally a ghost band... nothing could beat that." reggie insisted.

"well... what's better than three ghosts?" luke replied, looking over at elara. she'd sung with the band a few times when they were hanging out but never became part of the band.

"what do you say?" alex asked elara who looked slightly panicked.

"i-uh, i don't know." she replied nervously.

"you would be our secret weapon, el," luke said softly, reaching over and placing his hand over hers, "and with your guitar you'd be a triple threat."

"triple?" elara replied, furrowing her eyebrows.

"you can sing, play guitar... and you're the most beautiful girl in the whole world, everyone's gonna be knocked off of their feet when they see you for the first time!" luke said excitedly, he was in awe of her and everyone could see it.

her cheeks turned a slight pink as she shied away, covering them with her hands, "luke..."

"elara..." his lips turned into a playful grin, "you know you want to."

"if it means you'll stop pestering me i'll do it." she agreed, "but only if julie's okay with it."

"i'm more than okay with it!" julie exclaimed as she walked into the studio.

"how long have you been out there listening?" reggie asked.

julie glanced between luke and elara, a knowing grin on her face, "long enough."

"now that we've all agreed on that... i have a song i've been wanting to try out." luke said, reaching for his notebook and tearing out a page with his scribbled handwriting on.

julie sat besides elara, who wished she could be closer to julie. that was the hardest thing for elara, the boys could be seen now after julie freed them from caleb's stamp after they played at the orpheum but elara was still invisible to everyone apart from the boys and willie.

whilst they were rehearsing luke noticed elara looking upset, so once they finished the next song he called for a break and took hold of her hand leading her outside of the studio and then poofing them both up onto the roof. he'd learned that if he held someone's hand he could transport them to wherever he wanted.

"i know we haven't had a lot of alone time recently... but i want you to know you can talk to me about anything, el." he said, looking at her worriedly with his big, beautiful brown eyes.

"thanks, luke. i'm fine, really. it's just sometimes i wish julie and the others could see me like they can see you." she sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees as she pulled them up to her chest.

"i know how you feel, el. i wish i could get everyone to see you, because you deserve to be seen. i promise i'll do anything to help you, we'll find a way, okay?" luke told her, he wished he had a clue of where to start but for now his promise meant he would find a way. he'd do anything for the girl sitting besides him.

the air was a little chillier than usual for a california night, luke took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

elara couldn't help but feel instantly better around luke, he made her happy.

she turned to face him as he took hold of her hands, "el, i have to tell you something..." his voice was raspy from all of the singing, but something about his voice gave her butterflies whenever he spoke.

he was about to tell her what he'd been wanting to for a long time until they heard a commotion below them in the studio.

"we better go check that out." luke said, slightly disheartened.

he held his hand out for elara as they poofed back down into the studio.

"woah woah woah, what's going on here?" luke said, looking around.

"reggie was trying a new guitar move... swinging the guitar around his neck like you and well, it didn't go so well." alex said, looking at his drum set that was now all over the floor.

"i said i was sorry." reggie said sheepishly.

luke couldn't help but burst out laughing, he was about tell the girl he loved that he loved her for the first time and it was interrupted by this?

"okay, let's fix alex's drum set then we can call it a day, right? i think we all deserve some rest." luke said, looking around at everyone who nodded.

an hour later the drum set was put back together and the studio was sparkling clean, julie said good night to everyone as the boys settled down to sleep.

when ray found out about the boys he'd got some beds put into the studio, all of them up the ladder on the second floor so that the first floor had plenty of room for rehearsals.

luckily the couch turned into a bed so elara slept by herself downstairs. luke often sat in the chair besides her, watching over her. at rare moments when he fell asleep besides her and elara woke up before him she would cover him with a blanket, letting him have some well deserved rest.

that night when everyone was lying in bed, luke called out, "good night, elara."

"good night, luke."

"good night, elara." reggie called, mimicking luke who hit him with one of his pillows.

"good night, reggie... and alex." elara giggled, closing her eyes.

♡

i changed to lower case because it's easier!
enjoy this new update :)